There was plenty of media present to speak to interim manager Nick Daws on Thursday lunchtime, as the Iron get ready to take on Rotherham United in the Sky Bet League One play-off semi-finals.
The ALL-TICKET first leg will be played at Glanford Park on Saturday lunchtime (12.30pm kick-off) and interest from the press was high, with Sky Sports News, ITV Calendar and BBC Look North present alongside the regulars, which included iFollow Iron.
Daws provided his views to the club website ahead of the clash with a club he plied his trade with as a player and then coach.
ON THE PREPARATIONS…
ND: It’s been another good week. The sun’s been shining, the sprinklers have been on and the pitch is looking brilliant. We can’t wait, we’ve been training really well again. We have our full squad available to us as it stands and hopefully that will still be the case on Friday. We will finalise our preparations and look forward to welcoming Rotherham for what will be a fantastic occasion I’m sure.
ON TAKING ON FORMER TEAM-MATE PAUL WARNE…
ND: I think there’s a mutual respect. We didn’t just have things handed to us on a plate. We were both players of lesser ability but had great heart and a strong work ethic. We have worked really hard ourselves to remain in the game, which is tough, to keep striving to be better. I’ve got an immense amount of respect for him, he knows that and I’ve said it to the media already. I’m looking forward to working against him to try and achieve a result for my football club at the weekend.
ON WHAT HE EXPECTS FROM ROTHERHAM…
ND: Just the same as we’ve got in the previous two games. What Warney and his staff have instilled, with three or four people there who were in the club at the same time I was in, is create a great work ethic, a never-say-die spirit and they’re sprinkled with a decent amount of talent as well. We’ll be similarly matched. The performances in the previous two games were close and there wasn’t a great deal in it. They got the rub of the green with a penalty decision we didn’t get and I felt we defended across both games in a poorer fashion than lately. Hopefully we can rectify that and it will be down to who is more clinical on the day and who handles the occasion better. It’ll be as it should be, because we were separated by five points and one place in the table. It should be a tight affair.
ON PLAYING IN FRONT OF A PACKED GLANFORD PARK…
ND: What we’ve shown during the season and in recent weeks is that we’re capable of adjusting to any situation and getting the result we require. With sheer numbers and the fact it’s a play-off semi-final game, the atmosphere will be through the roof. There will be plenty of noise. It will create an environment the players should really thrive in. Hopefully we can not only build on that at the weekend, but also moving forward through the rest of the season and then the summer.
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SQUAD…
ND: What we strived for last week was to give some guys a bit of game time and that was important for them. They put in a lot of effort on a hot day. If required and something happens between now and Saturday lunchtime, and one of those players who hasn’t played the majority of the minutes has to come in, then they’ll step up to the mark and do a great job for the team.
See much more from Nick Daws on iFollow Iron. Click here to sign up.